1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of writing and printing equipment. More specifically the present invention relates to a marking apparatus including an open-ended elongate housing containing a plurality of chambers filled with pigmented marking liquid, the marking liquid within the first chamber having a pigment different from that of the marking liquid within the second, and possible third, chamber.
A porous wick segment extends into a wick port in each of the plurality of chambers and protrudes from the housing opening. The wick segments join to form a nib to simultaneously deposit adjacent overlapping trails of both marking liquids onto a marking medium such as paper, to create a mark with a blended array of color that may resemble a rainbow like effect. That is because the nib has a rectilinear and continuous marking end, in which the edges of color trails of the differently pigmented liquids blend together slightly. As a result the array of color trials deposited onto the marking medium are pure at their mid-regions, where primary colors may appear, but overlap at their edges, where they may form secondary colors. Alternatively, notches may be provided in the nib marking end to separate the deposited color trails. The wick segments and marking segment are all preferably made of felt, although use of other materials is contemplated. The marking liquid is preferably either ink or paint.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been pens and markers filled with pigmented liquid for depositing a trial of the liquid onto a medium surface. Most prior pens, for example, contain a single pigmented liquid. A few contain multiple ink cartridges, but only one of these at a time may be selected for writing. Thus, while the many available pigments have provided numerous color choices, all known prior pens and markers deposit only one distinct color of liquid at a time.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a marking apparatus which simultaneously deposits multiple liquids containing different pigments in parallel, adjacent overlapping trails, to create a mark with a rainbow appearance.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which has separate and independently replaceable liquid chambers.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus in which adjacent primary color trails may blend together at their edges to create secondary colors, or may remain separate and distinct.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus which is compact, reliable and inexpensive.